Three days later.
"Report—"
Yun Fei was in the Great Wu Dynasty's treasury, sifting through Cultivation Techniques useful to him, when a Dead Soldier walked in.
Yun Fei looked up, signaling him to speak.
The Dead Soldier knelt on one knee and immediately reported:
"Reporting, Master, Grand Marshal Zhang Lieming has heroically sacrificed himself, dying at the hands of the current Martial Forest Alliance Leader."
"Furthermore, seven rebel armies have appeared within the Great Wu Dynasty. Additionally, twelve aristocratic families or feudal lords have raised rebellions, with one of them already openly declaring himself Emperor."
Yun Fei showed little surprise upon hearing these reports.
This was all within his expectations.
He had directly launched a lightning war, striking straight for Chang'an.
There was no such thing as prestige to speak of.
The Great Wu Dynasty's territory was vast, almost comparable to his previous world's country.
And the imperial court had long been corrupt; now was the time for heroes to rise.
Anyone with a bit of ambition would make their move at this time.
It could even be said that the number of rebellions was fewer than he had anticipated.
He looked at the Dead Soldier before him and directly ordered:
"Issue an order to hand over the eight hundred thousand troops outside to Prime Minister Liu for his full command. All military and political affairs shall also be handled by Prime Minister Liu."
The Dead Soldier did not hesitate, acknowledged the order, and immediately withdrew to relay the command.
Yun Fei was not worried that Prime Minister Liu would seize power.
Because he currently had no real power.
The only ones he could rely on were these Dead Soldiers.
In comparison, he was more concerned with the Wuxia Secret Manuals in this treasury.
Thinking of this, he threw a punch, and the Qi from his palm shot out, shattering the wooden shelf in front of him.
He had already entered the Realm of a Third-Rate Martial Artist.
In the past few days, by reading ancient texts, he had roughly understood the Martial Dao System of this world:
From First to Third-Rate, as long as one Cultivates to the point of being able to sense Qi, they can enter the Third-Rate Realm.
Second-Rate Martial Artists have stronger Qi, and their Wuxia Cultivation Techniques are nearing Major Achievement.
First-Rate Martial Artists have further refined Qi, and their Wuxia Cultivation Techniques have reached Perfection.
Upon reaching the Innate Realm, one needs to convert Qi into Internal Energy.
If the Cultivation Technique is special, or if certain Heaven And Earth Treasures have been consumed, the Internal Energy can even possess attributes, making its combat power far surpass others of the same rank.
In this world, it typically takes three years to go from starting Martial Cultivation to entering the Realm of a Third-Rate Martial Artist.
To reach this level within three years is already considered a Genius among Geniuses.
And he had only taken three days.
Of course, this wasn't because he was extraordinarily gifted, but because he had 'paid to win'.
After all, the country's treasury indeed contained many good things.
The reason he could quickly become a Third-Rate Martial Artist was because he had consumed a fruit called 'Vermillion Fruit'.
This fruit had no other effects; its only function was that ordinary people who consumed it could immediately possess the Qi that only Martial Artists have.
Unfortunately, there was only one Vermillion Fruit in the treasury.
Moreover, it might have 'expired' from being stored for too long.
Otherwise, according to the description in the book, an ordinary person consuming a Vermillion Fruit should at least become a First-Rate Martial Artist.
The only explanation for him only being Third-Rate now was that this Vermillion Fruit had expired.
However, this did not affect the overall situation.
Now, the entire world was under his control.
Finding another Vermillion Fruit would just take a bit more time.
Furthermore, what was more important was that the treasury also contained a large number of Wuxia Secret Manuals.
Among them were five Heaven-Grade Cultivation Techniques, and over three hundred First-Rate Cultivation Techniques.
Unfortunately, Yun Fei felt a headache after perusing these Secret Manuals.
He had read all five Innate Cultivation Techniques once, but he couldn't understand them at all.
He understood the individual characters when they were separated, but when combined, he couldn't grasp their meaning.
As for the First-Rate Cultivation Techniques, he could barely understand some, but Cultivating them was not easy.
He roughly estimated that even at the fastest speed, each Cultivation Technique would take at least a few years to master.
This was simply too slow.
He had two conditions for returning to his original world:
One was death, and the other was that this world no longer posed a threat to him.
Death was unpredictable, but as long as this world had no Immortal Cultivators, or no powerhouses beyond the Innate Realm, he could sweep across the world in about a hundred days through a continuous supply of Dead Soldiers.
At that time, the System might judge that this world could no longer threaten him, thus forcibly teleporting him back.
Then, he would have to face that criminal again. Although he now had Qi and could kill that criminal with a single palm strike.
But Yun Fei always felt that the strength of a Third-Rate Martial Artist was not enough to be safe.
After all, he didn't understand that world either.
What if there were Martial Artists above Innate in this world?
Innate was already so strong; above Innate, Yun Fei didn't believe Dead Soldiers could stop such an existence.
In any case, he should at least 'pay to win' himself to the First-Rate Martial Artist level.
As for the Innate Realm, it would probably be difficult to achieve.
According to the previous explanation, Innate requires externalizing Qi and then gradually compressing it into Internal Energy.
This process is extremely difficult, not to mention having to Cultivate an Innate Cultivation Technique to Perfection, or Cultivating three First-Rate Cultivation Techniques to Perfection.
Only then can one be considered a complete Innate Realm powerhouse.
The introduction mentioned that those who reach this step are all Geniuses among Geniuses.
In this world, many people spend their entire lives unable to Break through to Innate.
This is not a Realm that can be achieved by piling up resources; it requires immense effort, and a bit of luck.
Thinking of this, Yun Fei chose a relatively simple First-Rate Cultivation Technique and began to Cultivate.
It wasn't that he didn't want to choose an Innate Cultivation Technique, but he simply couldn't understand it, let alone Cultivate it.
So, it was better to start with what he could understand... Ten days later.
Yun Fei lay on the ground, a blank expression on his face, staring blankly at the sky.
He had practiced for ten whole days, but he hadn't even gotten started with a single First-Rate Cultivation Technique.
Was the difficulty of this Cultivation Technique too high?
Was there really no Cultivation Technique that one could learn at a glance, become Third-Rate in one day, Second-Rate in three days, First-Rate in ten days, and Innate in a month?
Why was Cultivation so difficult?
"Report—"
Just then, a Dead Soldier rushed into the room and knelt before Yun Fei.
Yun Fei glanced at him, but did not get up.
He was too lazy to put on imperial airs, let alone for his own Dead Soldiers.
He just waved his hand, signaling the other party to continue.
"Reporting, Your Majesty, Prime Minister Liu has stabilized the situation in Chang'an and promoted seven ambitious individuals who can share Your Majesty's burdens."
"Additionally, he has recruited a First-Rate expert to serve as the Grand Marshal of the new army."
"Currently, rebellions are frequent within the Da Fei Dynasty."
"The Grand Marshal requests to lead an expedition to suppress the rebellion."
After hearing the report, Yun Fei pondered for a moment, then issued an order:
"Good, go tell the new Grand Marshal that I agree to his expedition."
"At the same time, hand over the newly reorganized million-strong army to his command."
"However, I have a condition—while dispatching troops, trample the Martial Forest."
"Flatten all Wuxia Sects within the Da Fei Dynasty, and have all their Wuxia Secret Manuals and Heaven And Earth Treasures submitted."
"Oh, and..."
There was also a precious Heaven And Earth Treasure called 'Vermillion Fruit'; the new Grand Marshal should also search for it diligently.
The reason Yun Fei decided to trample the Martial Forest, besides wanting to find some relatively simple Wuxia Secret Manuals, was more importantly, he always remembered that the Martial Forest Alliance Leader had once assisted the Great Wu Dynasty.
He had always kept that grudge in his heart.
After the Dead Soldier left with the order, the hall returned to silence.
Although there were thousands of Dead Soldiers guarding the surroundings, it didn't seem quiet, but for Yun Fei, this was a rare place of tranquility.
He took a deep breath and once again took out the 'Ox-Tiger Great Strength Fist'—this was a First-Rate Cultivation Technique, and also the simplest one he had chosen from hundreds of Cultivation Techniques.
However, even with the simplest one, he had yet to get started.
He lacked no resources, after all, he had the support of the entire country.
He could complete every posture described in the book when practicing them individually over the past ten days.
This Cultivation Technique had seventy-five postures in total; only by continuously completing all the movements could one be considered truly initiated.
The problem was his poor physical fitness; currently, he could only manage up to the thirty-second posture before exhausting himself.
This was already because he was a Third-Rate Martial Artist; otherwise, he probably wouldn't even be able to complete thirty-two postures.
Yun Fei looked at the Cultivation Technique in his hand, sighed softly, and then continued to practice.